For Song Dong, an artist born in 1966 in Beijing, his artwork has always served as a deeply personal platform to explore the ideas of transformation and impermanence. Whether it’s turning his own breath into a frosty layer on the winter slabs of Tiananmen Square for the performance piece, “Breathing,” in 1996 or chronicling fleeting moments in time using water as ink on stone for “Writing Diary with Water” (1995), his creations hold a mirror to the evanescent nature of our existence.
His family, too, forms a cornerstone in his artistic perspective. “Waste Not” (2005), an emotional installation series, draws from his mother’s life-long collection of humble belongings, reflecting a frugality born from a different era. In another personal exploration of his close-knit world, he curated an exhibition last year at Pace Gallery’s Hong Kong venue showcasing the work of his wife and frequent collaborator, Yin Xiuzhen.
Leng Lin, partner and president, Asia of Pace Gallery, and Song’s co-creator in the provocative collective Polit-Sheer-Form Office (PSFO), observes, “Song Dong’s art always explores the experience and process of change in surrounding environments, the constant quest for discourse and stimulation, as well as the openness of possibility.”
As the world grapples with extraordinary changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, Song Dong is currently showcasing works created during this period in three solo exhibitions in China and the United States.
One of these exhibitions is at the Shanghai Glass Museum, a project in collaboration with Yin Xiuzhen and their daughter Song Errui. The family has been planning to showcase their works as part of the museum’s “Annealing Project” since 2018. After numerous delays due to Covid-19 lockdowns in China, the family’s creations made from glass finally fill the two floors of the museum’s project space.
The exhibit titled “To Be or Not To Be” includes colorful glass “books” displayed in pristine white rooms. A mirrored wall reveals “Desireless,” a makeshift workshop that documents Song’s experiments with blowing and exploding glass. These exhibits, coupled with Song’s newly unveiled series, “Da Cheng Ruo Que,” illustrate his explorations of the concept of time, particularly as shaped by the pandemic.
Song Dong’s New York exhibition at Pace Gallery, “Song Dong: Round,” marks his first overseas exhibition since the onset of the pandemic. In this exhibit, Song Dong delves deeper into the idea of impermanence and change, drawing attention to humanity’s universal yearning for connection in a world dramatically altered by the pandemic.
Reflecting on the tumultuous past three years marked by a heightened tension between China and the U.S., his works serve as a gentle reminder of our collective humanistic yearning for connection. His creations act as an ode to our shared desire for community, freedom of travel, and thought, elements that seemed momentarily lost but are now gradually re-emerging.
Through his art, Song Dong extends an invitation to the world to reflect upon the concept of change, travel, and sociability, celebrating the human capacity to adapt and evolve in the face of adversity. His work serves as a testament to our shared resilience, underscoring the power of art to echo universal human experiences and emotions.
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